Rosalie E. Brown: Stop nitpicking over language not meant to be malicious

Shame on us as a society that we verbally stone Paula Deen for using language nearly everyone at the time used. It may not have been politically correct or even polite — but there was a time, not so far back, in our history when words were just words.

For the most part, people out of ignorance or indifference used words they were taught. They were just words, not attitudes of hatred or indifference, but just used because people didn’t know better.

Today, hopefully we know better. Some of these words are hateful, yet we pay millions of dollars to rappers and singers to use such nasty, dirty language in what they call their “art” or music. Then we do not condemn, we pay them and call it “freedom of speech.” As a society we have sunk pretty low to condemn a person for something said years ago when language was just spoken with no hidden meaning or malice — it was just the language of the day.

Hopefully we’ve learned a few things along the way and have stopped name-calling. But we all know it hasn’t stopped.

In my opinion, it is time we all smartened up, Food Network executives to janitors, and just accept each other for who and what we are — people — no more, no less. And stop nitpicking each other’s language from the past.

I wish everyone who rushed to defend Paula Deen could read this first: http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461
Daryl Washington breaks down the case and its impact clearly and thoughtfully. It's not about "coarse language" or "PC police." It's about systematic, racially-motivated maltreatment of your employees.
Please get the facts!

tputnam wrote:

07/12/2013

PAULA DEEN?? Good Lord in heaven, spend your precious energy on a real human being. You've *got* to be kidding. This letter is a joke, right?

nslator wrote:

07/08/2013

I disagree that there was a time when "words were just words." There was a time when some groups didn't have the social standing to object to being insulted. That time is thankfully over.
I personally don't pay a dime to rappers who use nasty, dirty language.